Chuck Jones

As is typical in these sorts of situations....there seems to be misunderstanding on both sides. I think Ken misunderstood that his daughter was somehow being attacked here.....when I think it was a statement that gittledog was supposedly acting like a 15 year old girl. I don't think anyone's daughter is or has been singled out here. All too often we only hear one side of a story....and there are invariably two sides, however we are not privy to the initial phone call or any subsequent offers to try to rectify this situation. I do not like to see what amounts to a civil matter tried in open forums like this. I can fully understand frustrations, anxieties, and the emotional toll something like this takes upon the party or parties involved....but the proper forum is through the respective attorneys....or better yet, through a good faith offer by the dealership to appropriately take care of the problem. The best we can do is end up taking sides in a situation where we really don't have all the necessary information. Don't get me wrong, I can empathize with gittledog, and if it happened to me, I'd be just as irate. But I think the key word here is irate...and what frequently happens is that first emotional phone call gets the parties polarized right off the bat...then it goes downhill from there. If I read this correctly, the dealership has offered to fix the car, let gittledog take it to the body shop of his choosing, compensate gittledog for diminshed value, and possibly other remedies yet to be agreed upon. Where this "leave my daughter out of it" came from I don't know, but it seems to be a misunderstanding that should be laid to rest post haste. Now before I incur the collective wrath of the gittledog supporters, I'm not on anyone's side. I don't know either of the parties. I just don't think that we should be making judgements about how this thing should play out until such time as the dealership has finalized what it is they intend to do. If they intend to give gittledog what he wants, then where's the beef? Again, playing these sorts of things out in public forums without sufficient details doesn't do either side any good. That's why they passed the lynch laws. Ok...now you can kick my butt...

First of all, I want to commend Loren for the GREAT DIY instructions here. I have never done a DIY project, and this was my first. I printed out the text and the pictures and had them on a table next to me...and went right down the line. Having no experience in this sort of thing, the one thing you lack is CONFIDENCE...the fear of messing something up. No sweat, you can get thru this. What I did that isn't covered here is order another sensor that comes out of the bottom of the coolant tank. You can break this by catching it on hoses and wiring...so an extra is a nice insurance policy to have. Otherwise your car is out of commission till you get one in about 4 days. I also disconnected the wiring harness from the sensor rather than try to take it out with the wires attached to it. Someone in another forum also suggested getting two of those heavy aluminum turkey roasting pans to drain the antifreeze into. They're flat and easily slide under the car...when one starts getting full, just slide it out of the way and stick the second one in there. It also makes it easy to pour the antifreeze back into the car because you can bend the aluminum pan and make a pointed pour spout. Remember...it's really a matter of a little confidence and patience. Oh yes....I also used my extensive crude english vocabulary during the process. Make sure you check and see if the neighbor lady is outside first.

Would you please telling me where is the ventilation holes, Front shell, airco radiators, water radiators? Are they located inside of the front bumper? Any links or picture for DIY? ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________ You might want to start with the owner's manual....and look at the front of your car....yes, inside the front bumper.

I just shipped a set of mufflers from California to Florida...weight was about 45 pouns and the size of the box big enough to hold two mufflers ended up costing $60 via UPS. Hope that gives you an idea, even though you're only shipping one. The Box Store has all the materials to do this for you for an additional $20....makes it easy.

$800 to replace a coolant tank??? Holy Smokes....I'm going to go into the business. I bought the tank from Sunset for $168, and even though I'm not what you'd call a master mechanic....using the DIY pictures and instructions from this forum, I printed out the pictures and text and did it myself. Someone who knows what they're doing can probably get thru it in 30 minutes. I don't see how this can be an $800 fix....hells bells...even if they charged $150 an hour, that would be four hours labor plus a $200 part. I'm a novice and have never done a DIY project on a Porsche.... and I did it in two hours.

"...........is there anything I should be looking for on the car that could warn me to a potential problem" Yeah....as nice as that car is, I watch out for someone trying to steal it..... Great looking car.

Holy Smokes......I'm used to hearing about "bird strikes" for aircraft...not Porsches. But come to think of it, the groundspeeds may have been similar.... :rolleyes:

Richard: If we're going to be seeing a lot of you....you might tone down your entry into the 996 arena a bit. Calling our 996 mirrors "fugly" on your first post is not exactly the way to ingratiate yourself to the crowd. I, as well as quite a few folks here.... like them. <_<

I agree with PJSslow....I used to have a herd of cats that pissed on everything. I made the mistake of leaving the window open on my truck one night. That took about 6 months to get the smell out...I just got the humane traps...rented them from the SPCA...caught them and took the trap and contents back to the SPCA...as long as you do it humanely, and the cats are on your property, you can't get into any hot water. However you may want to trap them where folks can't see the traps. Sometimes you will incur the wrath of the animal lovers and find your car keyed or other "happenings". Don't get me wrong...I do not dislike cats....but I do dislike the God awful pee-smell and cat crap they leave in the flower beds and in/on certain objects around the house. The fact you have the car in the garage will take care of part of the problem.

Slope: If you're wondering about the folks who modify the mufflers....what you want is the muffler off of a 02-03 3.6L engine and then you would modify it to either the MKI or the MKII designs. These produce a sound that some folks say is about 80% the same as the PSE mufflers. Some of the guys have also modded the 3.4L mufflers. If that's what you're trying to do, then there are a number of discussion threads along with pictures that you can find both here and on Rennlist. Do a search for "muffler mods"...or "modding the 3.6L muffler" or other search terms using those basic words. If that's not what you want to do, then I've just wasted storage space on this forum.

I just had to replace both horns in my 930...and I found a great set of "Italian air horns" with the two-tone sound @ 137 db in the Griot's catalog. They were only $39 and sound just great...loud too. They're actually a very smal and compact set of air horns with the small compressor inside the horn module. Really a neat setup for that price.

Usually items that use a "stick-on" compound can be removed by taking a long piece of fairly strong dental floss and running it under the lip of the cover and slowly work it downward with a back and forth motion. The dental floss won't cut into the underlying surface but will cut thru the adhesive provided it hasn't set up rock hard. Most of those stick on applications use an adhesive that doesn't harden. Chuck

I'm not saying that the dealerships will take advantage of you....but as an example....my wife took her new Toyota Forerunner in for the "regularly scheduled 30K service" . I picked her up at the dealership where she dropped off the car, and she gave me her copy of the estimate.....which when I read it, I about had a coronary. They had all sorts of add-ons that just didn't make sense. Her estimate was around $450. I got out the factory book and turned to the back where they had all the maintenance schedules broken down by tasks required to maintain the warranty. When I got done crossing off non-essential service, the bill came down to $130 and the service manager admitted that the "extra stuff" was done as a "convenience" for the customer. Convenience? A $320 convenience? I don't think so. I'm not saying your particular dealership would tack on those sorts of non-essential charges....but you have to realize that the dealerships make a lot of money off servicing vehicles....and many times the service manager is under the gun from the company execs to bring home the bacon....at your expense. Make sure that what you're paying for is really something that is required to maintain your warranty....and so much of that is something you can do on your own....just keep the receipts in a vehicle file for the filters, plugs etc.

I think Loren could chime in here with info on how involved the 30K service is. I've got my 30K maintenance coming up right about now...and you can also take a look at your manual that came with the car and it should show what needs to be done. You may find that some of the things the dealership wants to do...may not be something that's "required" according to the service schedule. Sometimes the service departments throw extra parts/labor into the maintenance that may not be necessary.

I just did this modification with a set of MY02 mufflers off a 3.6L engine....but routed it differently and used the 2.5 inch stainless pipe. I posted pictures and the entire process over on the Rennlist forum. Search under "Modding the 3.6L muffler for a MKII design" and you will find all the details. I just finished up the car and had a friend do a drive by for me...the sound is fantastic and has been compared to the PSE mufflers. It even looks like the PSE's without the vacuum solenoid. From what I understand, both of these mods give you a great result.

The link wouldn't work for me....would you please check it?

I find it fascinating how a question about a good leather product can yield so many different answers from folks who are absolutely sold on the particular product. When I bought my 930, it had been stored under wraps for a few years and the leather seats had gotten a bit stiff and unpliable (word?). I did a lot of research and came up with Dr. Jackson's leather rejuvinator. It brought back the seats to their original texture and condition...and like all the other folks who responded to this question....I swear by this stuff. So I guess I can throw my hat in the ring with all the other great product lines.

Not hijacking this thread...and this is sort of relevant to the issue at hand about testing systems...but I have one of those Stant kits for pressure testing cooling systems....but it only has the adapters for American cars. It's the nice chrome kit with the pump and pressure gauge on it. Is there an adapter that would allow me to use the pressure tester on Porsches? I saved the old cap I had when I had to buy the new one due to leakage.....and I was wondering if it would be feasible to make an adapter out of that cap and would that work for pressure testing? What pressure does the 996 run at?

Yes...I'd like to add my welcome and reiterate that you will find that contribution comes back to you many times over. The DIY section in here is outstanding. I'm a relative newbie and I've done two DIY's using the directions and input from other members. Loren oversees this forum continually...and any questions you might have are answered expeditiously.

I started out with a leaking cap and about a month after I put on the new cap, the coolant tank let go. The coolant tanks are renouned for cracking...but it's really hard to see the crack sometimes....the better pressure retention from the new cap can cause the older coolant tanks to finally let go. I haven't had any more problems since I replaced both.

No the emergency release for the hood can sometimes be accessed thru the hole to the side light on the passenger's side if you're lucky enough to be able to see and snag it..I had to get to it when my manual cable release for the front latch froze up with groceries inside. I couldn't get to it and ended up taking the front bumper off to free up the latch. The cable is actually behind the headlight and not in the same area as the fuel filler. I ended up rerouting it so it came out by the front right radiator where I can actually find the **** thing. Loren: I ordered the ...what Sunset calls the fuel door actuator....I order it from Sunset today...it's $30 and is actually a module and not just the plastic arm that slides forward. We can tackle that when I get the car back from the detailers. There seems to be a lot of interest in a good DIY with photos and I'd like to do one up with you for posting. Oh...and Clickman...it's good to see that there are at least two idiots that read this forum. Nothing is stupid proof!

I just look in my rear view mirror and can see the top of the spoiler sticking up just above the bottom of the rear window...I guess you'd call this a "manual" gauge. It works for me....and it's cheap! When I slow down, it disappears...that means it's down. :rolleyes:

I have the GIAC flash, EVO CAI, Schnell headers/mufflers as well as PSS9's...and I love what it did for me. I had a Pcar buddy who was thinking about mods drive mine, then I drove his without any mods, and both of us agreed that my car was a bit faster. Now, whether that equates to being worth the $4K I put into it making if "feel faster" (no dyno confirmation) remains to be seen. I definitely do not believe that there is a collective add-on horsepower gain from all the mods....in other words, the claims that the mufflers add X HP, and the EVO CAI adds X HP along with the X HP gains from the headers...does not compute. You might see a 20 HP gain from ALL of the mods together, but certainly not the cumulative horsepower gains from a total of the mods. Is that worth $4K to you? Probably not. What seems to get the guys is the spectre of "all those horsepower gains" advertised by the various manufacturers. I think that butt dynos sell more mods than any advertising campaign could ever hope to.